I think a good reference point might be the interview with Johnny O'Mara and David Bailey that Steve Mathes did quite a few years ago. The boys talked about their training in the mid-80's at the Honda Hills and how that track might be groomed once a ... more »

I'm finishing my first year with a 501s and, like others, can confirm that I love it. That being said, I think you need to consider a bunch of other factors in making your decision, some of which haven't been mentioned here. For instance, I'm over 200

I'm 6'1'' but have long legs coupled with f'd knees. I run the bars as far forward as possible, have dropped pegs and a tall seat. On bad days, it feels like I could use even a little more of a gap. The offroad guys deal with basically the same ergos, ... more »

Worked OK on this yellow AF, but we're still waiting for the checks from the studio and In-N-Out...

Mmmm...red engines...

I took a screenshot of that from the "sale" back in April last year. It seems to have sold for over that at the time, but had definitely gone all the way to crazy town in terms of pricing. As a long, long time 500 rider, it makes me wonder how many guys

Before laying a hand on it, put it in a favorite location and take lots of pictures. Dirt bikes look especially nice when they are brand new, and, thanks to all the plastics and soft surfaces, are notorious for looking beat up when they are even a little

Yes, the OP seems to be Canadian and things were always a bit different there. On the basic level, it's about ability not machine size, so red on white for Juniors (and pre-75 it was white on green for Juniors), black on yellow for Intermediates, and ... more »

For me (and likely many others), economic considerations are probably at the core of many of these decisions. In high school (early 70's) I barely made enough at my part time job to support a fairly rudimentary racing habit. I worked, rode, went to school ... more »

I suspect his secret weapon will be free coffee (and lots of it) for everyone on the line. The other suspicion I have is that they had a stop watch on RD every time he threw a leg over a bike in the last month or so, and those times were likely determined ... more »

Motoxdoc - You and DrG are not alone, as this guy (170) is also a chiro but up in Canada. He's pretty good at it too as Dino always books a visit whenever he is back in his home town and checks in regularly on a remote basis as well. And, apart from

I'm a big fan of Ryan Breece. He showed up at our local track a few years ago for a special one-off race we put on. He thoroughly dominated, but fit in like any of the locals working out of his van and all. He was a real privateer then and now, and earns ... more »

Here's another favorite old school dez/smoke bomb pic. I understand the promoter of the race screwed up and sent the water truck in 10 minutes after they went by...

I was always an open class rider, and roost from a pack of 500 2S bikes always sucked. It certainly taught how to choose different lines when things got too bad though. How bad did it get? Pic below shows my nearly new '88 CR after a particularly bad

As a starting point, I'm sure they have lots of parts left over from these:

I think there is a big difference between "building a bike from scratch" and doing a resto. These days, the best examples of major bike rebuilds would be the many examples of 500cc motors stuffed into all manner of frames. With so many off-the-shelf

I've debated with myself how to weigh in on this subject. I rode CR500's from '86 into the mid-90's, with a new bike pretty well every year, and even now I still have an early Service Honda in the garage. But how to ride them? If you plan on competing

Maybe not the coolest paintjob, but certainly the coolest helmet of the early/mid 80's. I found this one new in the box at a parts store in the "motorcycle district" outside of Tokyo in the early 2k's...

I bought a 501s last year and I'm definitely a fan of the bike. There's lots of chatter on Thumpertalk about mods for these things, but probably some of the best overall info/discussion is on Dirt Bike's website. They've done pretty decent tests and